Medicare Part D

Lifetime Medicare penalties: what Bellevue should know about Part B and D

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Signing up for Medicare on time sounds simple, but the calendar trips up thousands of people every year. Miss a key window for Part B or Part D, and you could pay a penalty that sticks with you for as long as you have coverage. The good news: once you understand how the deadlines work, they're easy to plan around.

Here's a plain-language guide for Bellevue residents on how late-enrollment penalties work as you plan for 2027 — and how to sidestep them.

Why late-enrollment penalties exist

Medicare is built on the idea that most people join when they first become eligible, usually around age 65. That keeps the program's costs balanced across healthy and less-healthy enrollees. To discourage people from waiting until they're sick to sign up, Medicare adds a permanent surcharge to your monthly premium if you delay Part B or Part D without other qualifying coverage.

The key word is permanent. In most cases, the penalty doesn't go away — it's added to your premium for as long as you have that part of Medicare.

The Part B late-enrollment penalty

Part B covers doctor visits, outpatient care, and many preventive services. Your first chance to enroll is your Initial Enrollment Period, a seven-month window that starts three months before the month you turn 65 and ends three months after.

If you don't sign up during that window — and you don't have other coverage that counts, like a current employer's group health plan — the Part B penalty is 10% of the standard premium for every full 12 months you were eligible but not enrolled. That amount is added to your monthly premium going forward.

You'd generally enroll later during the General Enrollment Period, January 1 – March 31, with coverage starting the month after you sign up.

How to avoid it:

• Sign up during your Initial Enrollment Period, even if you're still working, unless you have creditable employer coverage.
• If you're keeping employer coverage past 65, confirm in writing that it counts as "creditable" for Medicare purposes.
• When your employer coverage ends, use your Special Enrollment Period — up to 8 months — to join Part B without penalty.

The Part D late-enrollment penalty

Part D covers prescription drugs. To avoid a penalty, you need either a Part D plan or other creditable drug coverage (coverage that's at least as good as Medicare's) within 63 days of first becoming eligible.

The Part D penalty is calculated as 1% of the "national base beneficiary premium" for each full month you went without creditable coverage, then added to your Part D premium every month. Like the Part B penalty, it usually lasts as long as you have Part D.

How to avoid it:

• Enroll in a Part D plan when you first become eligible, even if you take few or no prescriptions.
• If you have drug coverage from an employer, union, or the VA, keep the annual notice that tells you whether it's creditable.
• If you lose creditable coverage, sign up for Part D within 63 days.

What 2027 looks like for Part D

A few 2027 facts are worth knowing as you plan:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026 ($2,400 in 2027) for the year. Once your covered drug spending hits that amount, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• The maximum Part D deductible is $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone — Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your out-of-pocket drug costs across the calendar year in monthly installments, at no extra cost. It's optional.
• IRMAA — an income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D — starts above $109,000 in income for a single filer (based on your 2024 tax return) in 2026.

These are program-level rules and apply the same in Bellevue as anywhere else in the country.

Plan choices in the Bellevue area

Bellevue is in King County, where Medicare beneficiaries have a wide range of stand-alone Part D and Medicare Advantage options to compare each year. For 2027, the county has 49 Medicare Advantage plans from 11 carriers, compared with 68 plans from 10 carriers in 2026; 18 plans are new, 27 are not returning, and 10 have been renamed, with Devoted Health new to the county. Availability is set at the county level, so any two neighbors in Bellevue see the same menu of plans — but that menu can look different from, say, Snohomish or Pierce County. You can see the current count and compare specifics using the Plan Finder at medicare.gov.

Key dates to circle

• Initial Enrollment Period: the 7 months around your 65th birthday.
• General Enrollment Period (Part B): January 1 – March 31.
• Annual Enrollment Period (Part D and Medicare Advantage): October 15 – December 7.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: January 1 – March 31 (for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan who want to switch once).